After a delay, Israel began vaccinating the Palestinians operating within the country and the settlements on the West Bank on Monday, more than two months after launching a vaccine blitz of their own population .
Palestinian workers who entered Israel at several checkpoints on the West Bank received the first doses of the Moderna vaccine from Magen David Adom paramedics. The vaccination campaign organized by COGAT, an Israeli military organization that coordinates government work in the West Bank, has been postponed.
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A Palestinian worker was vaccinated against coronavirus at a checkpoint near Ramallah
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
Around 100,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank work in Israel and the settlements, which are widely seen internationally as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Israel has delivered more than 8.7 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to its population of 9.3 million. More than 3.7 million Israelis – more than 40% – have received two doses of the vaccine. But until Monday, Israel has given very few vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a move that has highlighted global disparities and drawn international criticism.
Human rights groups and many Palestinians say Israel, as a property power, has a responsibility to give Palestinians vaccines. Israel says that under interim peace agreements reached in the 1990s, there is no such obligation.
2 צפייה בגלריה
A Palestinian worker was vaccinated against coronavirus at a checkpoint near Ramallah
(Photo: Amit Shabi)
Israeli officials have said the priority is vaccinating the Israeli people themselves first, while the Palestinian Authority has said it will get its own vaccines through a World Health Organization partnership with so-called humanitarian organizations. COVAX.
To date, the PA has received adequate vaccine doses for just 6,000 people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which is home to nearly 5 million Palestinians. He received 2,000 doses from Israel and received another 10,000 doses of Russian-made vaccines. Each is given in two doses.
Israel had also announced plans to share additional vaccines with distant friends in Africa, Europe and Latin America, but the decision was frozen with legal issues. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Danish and Austrian leaders and said the three countries would come together in the fight against COVID-19 with investment in vaccine research and distribution.